


Bleeding Hearts and Artists

by gobletoffire



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Confusion, Denial of Feelings, F/F, F/M, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Underage Drinking, frequent idiocy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27703051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gobletoffire/pseuds/gobletoffire
Summary: Patience is a virtue. Good intentions are doomed.***Some things should be kept hidden.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler (Briefly), Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Kudos: 11





	Bleeding Hearts and Artists

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after season 3, however, for the benefit of the plot, I've had to take some liberties in regards to the canon storyline. 
> 
> The Byers never moved. Hopper's still out of the picture, though, so El is living with them. 
> 
> Also, El and Max didn't become friends. 
> 
> Please, please, please let me know what you think--feedback is one of the things which I most love about writing, so any comments are greatly appreciated :)

The screeching of the bicycle, the tire about to come off. The conspicuously unforbidding state of things. A glance at the boy who didn’t use to despise him. 

Patience is a virtue. Good intentions are doomed. 

***

The bed is no longer comfortable—Will has lain down for too long. How long, he can’t say. His sense of time is worsening. What used to be as simple as a near-accurate estimate seems now impossible. Will wonders whether if he falls asleep, he’ll wake up a thousand years older. 

But it’s not that he hasn’t access to the time, he can glance at the clock any time he likes, but rather that he feels disconnected from it. Not just the time, the rest of his surroundings, too. 

Someone has neglected to properly turn off the faucet. The soft dripping of the water is annoying, bordering on maddening, but it’s not enough for Will to abandon his room; the four walls whose company he isn’t particularly fond of but which, in all their glorious gloom, bring him a twisted sort of comfort. The sort he’s so accustomed to nowadays that he can hardly imagine anything else. 

Will considers getting a drink of water. He discards this idea. 

The curtain has been closed carelessly. The light comes in, blindingly bright. Will reaches his hand forwards and discovers that from where he’s lying, he can’t reach the curtain, and accordingly gives up. 

He squeezes his eyes shut. 

The doorbell rings, accomplishing what hours of torturesome near-silence and the audacious sun haven’t managed. Will jumps up, as if electrocuted, and hurries to the door. 

For one short moment, he pretends the boy is there to see him. He almost smiles, but catches himself just in time, instead settling for an expression he hopes doesn’t convey anything at all. 

“El’s not here. She’s gone out.” He doesn’t specify where. Couldn’t if he wanted to. He woke up late, and by the time, the house was empty. 

Mike frowns. “Oh. I mean, that’s great, I wasn’t here for her anyways.” 

Will feels slightly lightheaded, something like joy taking him over concerningly fast. Does that mean…? 

“I mean, I wasn’t here only for her,” Mike continues. “I was going to ask the both of you if you’d like to come to Lucas’ I think we’re watching a film or something.” 

Oh. So he isn’t here for Will, specifically, which, really, he was foolish to think, even just for a moment. It’s, to put it simply, too much to ask for. These days, anyway. If it were some years back… But he refuses to think of it. 

Mike is here for El, mainly. Why else would he have come by, instead of phoning them, if not with the intent of getting a snog before his duty at Lucas’? He’s only asked Will as a— _ hey, we were great friends once and I’m not so fond of you anymore, but we’ve got some friends in common, not to mention my girlfriend lives at your place, and I don’t want to make things awkward _ —sort of thing. 

Fortunately for Mike, though, Will appreciates the gesture. Not least of all because he’d accept any offer of Mike’s company, even if he’s well aware he’s secondary to El in Mike’s reasoning for visiting the house. It’s all right, really. 

_ It’s pathetic.  _

Mike looks at him, about to say something, then seems to think better of it. He stays silent for a moment, glances at the door and coughs awkwardly. “So, shall we go?” 

“Sure.” 


End file.
